High voltage vs High current?

Question

If it's the current through the body that determines how serious a shock will be, why do we see warnings of "high voltage" rather than "high current" near electrical equipment?

Answer 1

Because current is a variable. Voltages are constant. The higher the voltage, the more it damages your tissue. For example, you can die of electric shock of only 120 volts, if you are grounded well enough. Your body will not get burned by that low of a voltage though. High voltage, such as 13,000 volts in high tension lines will "jump" out at you if you get too close to it, and kill you by blowing you apart. So high voltage is more dangerous due to the fact you don'y even have to touch the wires, just be close enough to them. High current is a result of something of little, or no resistance being introduced to an electric circuit. Ex. being you, in a puddle of water, dripping wet fresh out of the shower, and grabbing an unprotected circuit.

I hope this helped...

Stevo.

Answer 2

High Voltage High Current

Answer 3

Well...basically...an applied voltage will force a certain amount of current through your body (through your body's resistance)

A higher voltage will force more current. Some sources...such as a stun gun...cannot maintain high voltages except across a very high resistance. So...they can force a spark across an air gap, through clothing etc...

However, the voltage drops quickly across the relatively low resistance of a human body - resulting in a very small current that lasts a very, very short time.

Remember - the danger from high voltages comes, in part, because you dont have to actually touch a wire - high voltage can to greater or lesser degrees jump through air... Lethal or not, a 120-volt circuit cannot do that

I did note an answer that touched on lightning as a source of high current that people can survive. This deserves qualification.

A direct lightning strike can apply huge voltages across a person's body - and force huge currents through the body. However, most incidents *do not* involve a direct strike. For that matter, most lightning deaths result from these indirect contacts...

If you look at the stats...verified direct strikes are really rare...and for one to survive, the lightning would probably have to form a plasma channel around the body by vaporizing and ionizing sweat and/or rain water...this would lead to a much smaller voltage drop across the body and correspondingly lower currents traversing the body...

Answer 4

Lithiumdeuteride has the most of the answer, but in practice, high voltage short circuits (due to wrong position of switch or dropped tool etc.) can create serious flashes which can (and do) burn, blind, blow eardrums start fires etc. So there is more to the "danger high voltage" than just electrocution.

Also the "lethal current" is an idealized concept. A person can be struck by lightning and live (High Current and Voltage). Many injuries from electrical shock are the result of far more than "lethal" current that do not result in death.

The general rule is 50 volts and below is safe, 600 volts and above is VERY DANGEROUS even to experienced workers.

Answer 5

For a given conducting material (such as the human body), the more voltage is applied, the more current will flow, assuming there is no limit to the amount of current that can be supplied.

Furthermore, the voltage of the wires is known, while the current is not. The current flowing through the wires changes depending on the load.

Answer 6

HIgh voltage is a static quantity, current will depend on the voltage and the resistance of the body to ground. So if you step barefoot in a puddle and grab that wire that says "Caution - High Voltage", you will get a large current through your body, and you'll probably die. If you are in your sneakers and you're standing on a plate of asbestos, you may not get as much of a shock.

Answer 7

A high sustained voltage will lead to a high current through your body.

A low voltage could produce a high current, but only through a good conductor like a solid wire. Your body has too high of a resistance for a low voltage to give much current.

Answer 8

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"Electricity is movement of electrons". Not really. 'Static electricity' is stationary charge. "Current electricity" is moving charge (in metals the moving charges are electrons). "Current" (measured in amps) is not 'volume per second', it is charge per second, but you can think of it as depending on the number of electrons passing per second. Voltage is not a force, but you can think of it as a force sometimes. Voltage is really to do with energy changes. The voltage in a cell comes from the chemical reactions inside the cell. The chemical reactions remove electrons from one metal terminal and add them to the other terminal. This pushes/pulls the electrons around the circuit. The voltage from the cell depends o the chemical used. You can also get higher voltages by connecting cells in series - which is what a battery is. The voltages from the cells get added. Mains voltage in the home is produced by a generator, which uses magnets and coils. Voltages can be changed using a transformer. It is only electrons in wires which move, not nuclei.

Answer 9

I don't know what is your first question means. But voltage is a potential diffrence. If you wanna know more about that, read Coulomb's law again. For low battery, it is made up of cell and produce small amount of voltage in DC. For power electrical sockets at home, it came with AC and voltage are up to thousands. DC is more stable than AC and electronic appliances only work with DC. But it is much more expensive to produce unlike AC.

Answer 10

cos its the high voltage that can "jump" gaps and electrocute you not high current